You are here

iTelescope.Net

Overview

The iTelescope.Net facility at Siding Spring Observatory is the southern hemispheric station of a global network of small to medium sized robotic telescopes designed specifically for use by the public via the internet. It is its flagship observatory and was commissioned in January 2013.

iTelescope.Net is operated by a small team based in Australia and the USA as a service for amateur and semi-professional astronomers the world over.

It is the world's premier network of Internet connected public telescopes, allowing members to take astronomical images of the night sky for the purposes of education, scientific research and astro-photography.

The initial service began operations with a single telescope in New Mexico USA 2002. It has grown to encompass three continents with many research grade instruments on call for thousands of registered members.

iTelescope.Net is a non-profit organisation and the vast majority of its income is reinvested into its infrastructure with new telescopes, observatories, features and equipment constantly being added for the benefit of its time sharing membership.

The entire iTelescope system is controlled remotely with nothing more than an Internet browser required to remotely control any of the telescopes. It offers a large range of telescopes up to 0.7 meters, various fields of view, image scales and CCD camera combinations. With a large range of filters including Narrowband, LRGB and UBVRI. All data is delivered in its raw FITS format both calibrated and non-calibrated. Data gathered via the iTelescope system remains the property of the users.

iTelescope.Net has enabled amateur astronomers the world over to gather all manner of astronomical data, from prize winning stellar portraits to the discovery and research of NEOs, minor planets, supernova, GRB, comets and exo-planets. iTelescope.Net allows users to respond quickly to real-time astronomical phenomena such as outburst events, gaining a competitive edge for discoveries. With hundreds of asteroid discoveries its observatories are ranked within the top 10 in the world by the Minor Planet Center.

Professional astronomers also use iTelescope.Net to supplement current research projects. The network provides alternate observatory sites in both southern and northern hemispheres and is used to continue research when seasonal or poor weather affects many other observatories.

iTelescope.Net has established educational outreach programs enabling school students from all over the world to explore the cosmos above them and do real science in the classroom.

It has a close working relationship with the RSAA and operates with them in an official partnership at its Australian SSO site. iTelescope.Net also have working ties with AAVSO, MPC, HST - STSI, NASA, ESA, MIT and dozens of academic institutes far and wide.